Make Your Way To Blue Sushi Sake Grill

 

Birmingham has some outstanding restaurants. I think we can all agree on that. It's always nice to find one of those spots that you'd go to over & over again. 

I recently visited one of my new favorite places, Blue Sushi Sake Grill in the Summit Shopping Community off of highway 280. 

We were celebrating a very special birthday so to be sure that we'd be guaranteed a table, I made a reservation via OpenTable.com. Thank goodness I did, because the place filled up within moments of us being seated. When using the reservation app, you are allowed to select your seating choice at many establishments. Booth seating is always my preference. Our server, Austin, recommended everything we tried. His attention to detail was superb. 

We started out with a couple of savory starters: A bowl of the traditional Edamame & The Coconut Crab Soup: roasted corn, sweet potatoes, yellow curry, coconut milk, cilantro, chili oil. 

COCONUT CRAB SOUP

EDAMAME

Since we were celebrating, we decided to have a couple of items from their popular custom cocktail menu: The Strawberry Daisy and The Raspberry Mojito. These paired extremely well with all of the menu items we selected. 

STRAWBERRY DAISY

RASPBERRY MOJITO

Our sushi rolls consisted of the Rainbow Roll: bigeye tuna, salmon, yellowtail, ebi, crab mix, avocado & cucumber. The Spicy Tekka: spicy bigeye tuna & cucumber

Both rolls were outstanding. Our feature dishes included the Tuna Tower & The Salmon Poke Bowl. These were by far, two incredible dishes that I would definitely recommend to a first-time visitor. 

Click To Enlarge

The Tuna Tower: sesame and ponzu-marinated bigeye tuna, spicy crab mix, avocado and sushi rice, topped with black tobiko and wasabi sprouts, served with honey wasabi, mango and eel sauces. 

Click To Enlarge

The Salmon Poke Bowl: sockeye salmon, sweet onion, wakame and avocado, tossed in sesame dressing, served with nori crisps and cucumber sunomono.

Overall, Blue Sushi Sake Grill has all of the elements for a fun night out, date night or a special occasion dinner. Their menu variety combined with the outstanding service definitely puts them on my list of favorites. 

For more information or to make a reservation, visit their website at https://bluesushisakegrill.com 

Blue Sushi Sake Grill

238 Summit Blvd

Birmingham, AL 35243

Also download or visit OpenTable.com to start earning dining rewards. 

Thanks for reading & sharing! 

The Birmingham Restaurant Raider

Est.2009

https://birminghamrestaurantraider.blogspot.com/

An Evening at Bistro V



Normally when I receive multiple recommendations for the same place my expectations are pretty high. We're talking higher than a giraffe's forehead. It's always a pleasure to walk into a restaurant and be pleasantly surprised. Following up on several suggestions, I journeyed over to the popular Bistro V in Vestavia Hills, AL.


Atmosphere: I arrived right at the top of  their 5:00 p.m. dinner service. Upon entry, I got a direct view of the kitchen staff. They actually looked very enthusiastic, which was a huge plus. Bistro V is  a moderately sized restaurant with comfortable seating. I was seated in the dining area close to the bar with a small crowd. Later on as the crowd grew, I could tell that the restaurant seemed to be a popular spot for families & date-nights. I also got the feeling that this is a very popular spot for Vestavia Hills locals. The décor was very nice. I especially liked the two over sized, plush lounge chairs positioned in a corner next to a large window.
The dining room wasn't extremely noisy. Even the servers were pretty reserved with their side conversation.

The Meal: I started off with the Crispy Grit Cake appetizer: country ham, mushrooms,
perfectly cooked spinach, large shrimp all sautéed in a white wine cream sauce. This was one of the heartiest appetizers I've had in a while. If you have a lighter appetite, this would make a great meal. The entrée consisted of the Pan Seared Scallops: succulent jumbo scallops, creamy grits, on a bed of greens, drizzled with bacon vinaigrette. This was indeed a wonderful dish. I really loved it, even though I was stuffed from the appetizer.  

The Service: The service started off just "okay" beginning with the hostess. Although service wasn't bad, I expected a more upbeat reception after hearing all of the accolades prior to arriving. The service gradually improved throughout my meal.

The Prices: Appetizers start at $6.00. Salad prices start at $9.00. Dinner entree's range from $16.00 up to $30 depending on the item. Some item's are placed at market prices.

Overall Dining Experience: I can taste the quality & passion put into the food. To see the look on the faces of the Bistro V kitchen staff as I  walked in gave me a great feeling. I can tell that they love what they do and it shows in the taste of the food. I am eager to try more menu items at the Bistro.

Room for growth and improvement: I don't have any real "complaints", but the only suggestion I would make is that Bistro V take the opportunity to continue to enhance service quality and continue efforts to provide each customer with a well rounded  dining experience.

For more information about Bistro V, visit them on-line at http://www.bistro-v.com/home.html

Follow them on Twitter @_bistroV_

(Click photos for larger view)



The Crispy Grit Cake



The Pan Seared Scallops

The 2015 Gumbo Gala Cook Off

   

It's that time again folks! #GumboGala2015
Gumbo lovers everywhere will unite on April 18, 2015 to have a taste of unlimited samples of some of the best gumbo in the state. The Gumbo Gala draws large crowds annually and all for a great cause. It is a fundraiser benefitting the residents of Episcopal Place, an affordable housing apartment community that serves 148 seniors and disabled adults who live on restricted incomes. 

There will be great live music, children's activities, games, art and much more!!!!!
I had a blast at last years event and will not pass up the opportunity to attend the popular Birmingham annual fundraiser.

The Gala has a great new site location having moved from Sloss to Region's Field.

Early Bird tickets are now on sale!
If you can't make it to the event, go to their website to make a donation. It would be a huge help for people in need.

Volunteers are also needed for #GumboGala2015. There are still several opportunities available.

Don't forget to get your (reasonably priced) official 2015 Gumbo Gala T-shirt.

Check out pics from last years Gumbo Gala. GumboGala2014

Follow Episcopal Place https://twitter.com/Episcopalplace
Follow Gumbo Gala https://twitter.com/GumboGala
See you at #GumboGala2015!
Thanks for reading,
~RR



 

 

 



REVIEW: Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen



Two things that  Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen is famous for, the tremendously long wait times and their world famous seafood. Over the years I've heard so many people rave about their experience at the infamous seafood giant. Many of them of course had to visit Pappadeaux locations outside of Birmingham until recently. Since opening their doors several months ago off of Highway 280, the restaurant has drawn huge, impressive crowds. I'm sure their sales volumes are higher than expected.

*While I typically don't review many large, chain restaurants, there are over a dozen people that wanted to know what I thought of this particular restaurant.

Atmosphere: Upon arrival, I was impressed with the landscape and the outdoor seating. The outdoor seating area was quite comfortable and would be an awesome place to eat in good weather. We were told that we would have a 45 minute wait. We decided to wait it out while listening to the awesome live band near the bar area. We could see that is was very crowded which increased the noise level. I would normally leave a restaurant if the wait at dinner time is longer than 20 minutes, but we both wanted to have the experience. I've seen other reviews of Pappadeaux where people have waited close to three hours to be seated. I personally don't have the tolerance for that. Only my mother's home cooked meals deserve that kind of patience.

The Meal: From the "hot appetizers" menu, I had the frog legs with fries. The appetizer contained a generous portion of meaty frog legs, I was quite pleased with this choice. My entrée consisted of the seafood platter: A beautifully presented combination of catfish fillets, shrimp, blue crab cake, stuffed shrimp & stuffed crab on a bed of fries. My dinner companion had the grilled half chicken: A 1/2 chicken, marinated in garlic & rosemary, accompanied by a serving of red mashed potatoes & sautéed spinach. I really hate to say it, the grilled half chicken was the star of the evening. They did an amazing job with the flavor of this dish.

The service: Our service was outstanding! Although there were large parties in his section, he still managed to give us great service with a great attitude each time he stopped by our table. We definitely felt comfortable leaving a generous tip due to his professionalism.

The prices: The appetizer was $10.95, 1/2 chicken entrée $19.95 & the seafood platter was $26.95.

Room for growth & improvement: There are a tremendous amount of on-line reviews about this restaurant. While it's impossible to please everyone, if I were the Pappadeaux management, I would make it a point to address all of the less than favorable  reviews by developing a solution to each issue. "Try" to impress each and every customer that comes in, after all you have a reputation to uphold as being a leader in the seafood world. There are other seafood restaurant leaders already firmly planted  in the Birmingham market that you WILL be heavily compared to.

Overall experience: The entrée I had didn't match the rave reviews I'd heard or read. Maybe I went in with insanely high expectations. I loved the frog legs and the service. I might visit this restaurant again in the future and order something different.  The chicken should not have outshined the seafood where seafood is the specialty.

Have you been to Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen? What was your experience? Leave your comments below the post or send an email to restaurantraider@gmail.com or a comment on twitter @RestaurantRaidr.

 

Frog Legs.... Sorry Kermit, but I couldn't help myself.

The Seafood Platter

The grilled half chicken dinner